It’s Friday, everyone! And that means another Primal Blueprint Real Life Story. If you have your own success story and would like to share it with me and the Mark’s Daily Apple community please contact me here. I’ll continue to publish these each Friday as long as they keep coming in. Thanks for reading!

Hi Mark

I just wanted to send you a BIG THANK YOU. Your book and the information it shares has made a huge impact on my life and the life of my family and friends as well.

I went through two debilitating injuries in the last 3 years. The big one was my shoulder surgery. I had 4 procedures done in one surgery and was in rehab for 11 months, 3 times a week!!! It was living hell and I got up past 225 lbs. During the end of rehab I was doing the routine prescribed AMA nutrition and exercise. Eating only “Good” carbs and low fat diet. I cut out my refined carbs and sugars and exercised A LOT, and managed to get down to about 215 which is about what I weighed in my first picture.

Then in mid January a friend told me about Paleo way of eating so I told my friend that is how I’m eating and he explained that if I’m eating grains, beans and legumes then I am not eating Paleo. In February another friend called me and said you have to check out this web site Marks Daily apple!!! I did and I immediately bought the Book and the cook book. I also signed up for the free fitness PDF file. I began to follow your plan and in two and a half months I took my second picture, which was about mid April. I’m now down to 190 lbs and have went from a very tight 36 (38 ) to a very loose 34 :))

I am already in better shape than I have been since my mid twenties (I’ll be 50 in June) and I have SO much energy it’s crazy!!!

But wait that is really not the best part. My wife who had put on some weight when she had our second daughter (who is now 10) started to follow the Primal blueprint in mid-February. She has tried many times to lose weight but never any success. She has gone from a tight size 12 to a loose size 8!!!! in a little over 2 months!!! Awesome !!

Now my 21 year old daughter has switched completely to Primal way of eating and my little girl is about 70 % and climbing!! She works out with me now, cause it’s fun doing leap frogs, climbing and swinging with Dad!!!

I love stand up paddling and will be in the Battle of the Paddle here in Hawaii this month. How cool is that!!!

As if that’s not cool enough, this is even better!! We have gotten at least 8 friends and family who have begun to live a Primal way of life and growing!!! We share it with EVERYONE we meet!!

I have a friend who is a chef and I just got him to look at the book and the recipes and he is on FIRE!! We are talking of possibly starting a little restaurant that is PURE PRIMAL!! I think it will be BIG!! The possibilities are endless!!!

Thank you Mark for your passion and knowledge, it has changed MY life and my family’s lives in a big way and is impacting many others daily!! It is giving countless lives hope and their lives back. My Family and friends thank you and hopefully one day when you come to Hawaii we can go paddle and then eat at our restaurant!!

Aloha

Scotty

Update:

Here is a photo of me and winner of the Battle of the Paddle distance race winner Danny Ching (on my right), and 17 year old stand up paddle surf world champion Kai Lenny on my left. This was taken right after I finished the 10 mile race!!!! Living my dream :)) Thanks for helping me make it happen!!!

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You want comments? We got comments:

Imagine you’re George Clooney. Take a moment to admire your grooming and wit. Okay, now imagine someone walks up to you and asks, “What’s your name?” You say, “I’m George Clooney.” Or maybe you say, “I’m the Clooninator!” You don’t say “I’m George of George Clooney Sells Movies Blog” and you certainly don’t say, “I’m Clooney Weight Loss Plan”. So while spam is technically meat, it ain’t anywhere near Primal. Please nickname yourself something your friends would call you.

I think your face in the second picture says it all, Scotty. Serene, calm, composed. And great job on getting the PB to ripple outwards to your family and friends!

Stand up paddling is what got me started on my path to healing and what is my passion as well as my wife’s. I know many people who paddle on lakes and love it. It is an amazing sport and the learning curve is very quick unlike surfing. If you get the right board you will be paddling your first day !! I would suggest a displacement type board maybe about 12 foot 6 inches and at least 29 inches wide it should also be about 6 or 7 inches thick. Joe Bark makes the best boards for flat water . you can see his boards at Joe Bark .com and also Surftech .com has some really good stand paddle boards. There is a forum called The stand up Zone for stand up paddlers , I would suggest that you look there. There is a ton of information there and you will get a good education on what you nee to know and what type of boards there are. Also the guys and gals there are super friendly and willing to share any knowledge they have.

Awesome Job Rob on Living Paleo and taking charge of your life and health. I have so much respect for you. Keep it up !! GROK on dude

You have done absolutely incredible work getting in shape and gaining health. And the fact that you got your daughters into eating this way early in their lives means that they will have many more fit, healthy years ahead of them.

even though your beard in the “after” pics don’t compare with the other guys, you still look great
Of course I love hearing about other people my age getting in better shape, however I love even more hearing that younger people are finding this now. Before they do the “damage” to themselves that us older folks already have.
Keep up the good work everybody!
Keep spreading the word!

Scotty, well done! Clearly you’ve become not just healthy, you’re very strong indeed. I admire your resolution, insight, and open-mindedness in pulling this off.

But most of all, I admire the way you showed your family and friends the way to primal living through your positive example. Our world needs many more husbands and fathers like you. Thanks so much for sharing your story.

Great Story! I love the site, I am loving my new primal lifestyle (3 months on it) I wish I had as much luck getting people to at least try it. Even the ones that I get interested in it find it to difficult because they can’t just eat the convience food that they are used to..they are too busy. People won’t even read a little article here and there. Let alone a book on it. I’m just hoping that after I get to my goal (10 more lbs!) and I’ve been on the diet for a year or so it will become easier.

Hmmm… so basically I should live in Malibu, CA or Hawaii, eat a lot of expensive, organic products (food bill would be over $100/week for one person…), & other products & then I’ll be set. This is certainly a tenable model for the whole world huh?

DH and I live in Arizona – we’ve been retired for several years and are on a fixed income. We have no problem whatsoever eating Primal and finding good quality food if we decide to look for it. The crap, as usual, is all around us, but with just a little effort and not a whole lot more money, we’ve been maintained a Primal lifestyle. And we are NOT in a big city (like Phoenix) or a hip city like Flagstaff – we’re in central Arizona with a bunch of old fogies. (Fat, decrepit old fogies but that’s another forum—)

Consider what it’s gonna cost you later in life for a bunch of prescription meds verse what you could spend on some wholesome food today – who do you want to give your money to? I’ll be 67 in about 2 months and my total meds cost me $10.00 for a 3 month supply. I’ll gladly spend a little more for some good food instead of giving my dollars to Big Pharma.

oh now don’t be such a Debbie Downer. I’ve been eating this way for over 2 yrs. I live in a teensy town high in the mtns. So I don’t get a lot of produce. I buy frozen veggies mostly. I buy my meat in the mark-down section. I do my workouts in the storeroom at work or outside in my neighborhood. I eat less than when I was a veg as I am full longer. I have zero health expense.
Tom, if this doesn’t interest you then move on to something that does. We are all friendly & positive here

Why even come here and post something like that if you’re not in to the lifestyle?
My husband and I don’t eat organic (unless it’s the only product we can find), and we don’t eat grass-fed b/c we simply can’t afford it. For 2 people and feeding our pets, we spend MAYBE $10-20 more than we did before.
So yeah, this is doable and anyone that says it isn’t just doesn’t have the willpower to change.

Thanks for sharing your story Scotty. I am quite intrigued with this idea of bringing other people into the primal fold.

I just started helping out a friend of mine who has been cancer stricken now 5 times. She is in her early 60’s and has had a crappy go of it of late. She just got the good news on Tuesday she is cancer free so I sat down with her a on Wednesday and explained the tenets of being primal. She’s excited to give this a go and I am excited with the idea of helping her remain cancer free from here on in.

So I need to get 6 more (I recruited my brother last month) to complete my tribe.

Seems like you may well have started something here :). It’s easy to share something you believe in and see results from others. One of my biggest tools is this web site and the success stories. A picture speaks a thousand words. Keep up the good work and you friend is lucky she has a caring friend like you.

Hey Mark, way to go, you look great. Make sure to update us WHEN your restaurant opens, my husband and I live in HI as well, and were just talking about how cool it would be to go eat out PALEO! Aloha!

There is a place called “good to grill” where they cook prime rib on an open Keawe charcoal grill. They will substitute potatoes or rice for caesar salad. It’s not grass fed beef but it is pretty darn good and they have a 8 oz prime rib special for 10 bucks. I would like to have a grill like this and offer grass fed beef as an option. Anyway “Good to grill” is in Kapahulu where the new Safeway shopping center is they are on the left side of Safeway in the center.

Great job Scotty!! And thanks for doing your part to spread the word. I have come upon a lot of resistance from others to going primal even though they can see the very positive effects it has on me. People are so “ingrained” with grains! Oh well, I try. Maybe I will convince them yet!
You look amazing and Happy Birthday!!

Keep these stories commimg Mark!!!These stories are a great help and inspiration in my own weightloss journey.
I think this is some of the best of primal and it brings out the best in people when they respond to the stories.

Great job, Scotty! You’re an inspiration to a lot of older folks who have just about given up, or have given up entirely, to get off their butts and take control. I love it!

I’l be 67 in a couple of months and wish I had started the PB when I was your age – but hey, better late than never!

Hopefully those good-looking, fit, young guys in that pic with you will take the hint and take care of themselves NOW instead of waiting too long – if you can look that good at 50 just think what they could do if they go Primal at their young age! Keep up the inspiration and the best of luck to you – thanks for sharing.

Awesome job, Scotty! Who needs expensive anti-ageing moisturiser when you can go Primal? I think my parents should definitely hear your story, so thanks for passing it on. You look very manly now, which is obviously a good thing.

Not to take anything away from what you have acomplished but I’m thinking these result could be faster, easier? because of your routine exposure to sunlight in the tropics.
Were you able to achieve these results with some fruit and starch still in the diet?

for the first 2 months I ate almost no fruit and ZERO STARCH !! I kept my carb intake from vegetables to around 50 grams a day some times lower. I now eat a purple sweet potatoe once in a while if I am going to be doing a long distance paddling race, but for the most part I do not eat starch , I believe SUN has a Huge impact on our bodies and mentally as well. When I used to ski in park city Utah I would stand in the sun on my patio in just my shorts for about 20 minutes it was cold but felt good. So if we want sun we can get it, it just depends on how bad you want it I guess.

I just recently learned about this way of eating. I’m a 300 lb man and am very anxious to learn more and begin my new way of eating. I bought the Paleo book andI would love to drop 100 lbs. and feel better. Any suggestions for an exercise routine? I have a very bad back(two surgeries).

Mark has an excellent, free e-book under the “Freebies” section above that should help you get started–all you have to do to download it is sign up for his e-mail newsletter–do this.

I don’t know the specifics of your injuries and you probably have a better idea of your limitations than anyone else, so my recommendations are going to be very general. As an Occupational Therapist, I would strongly recommend that you first consult a good Physical Therapist that specializes in the spine, preferably one that has some experience in sports rehab, so they can make some recommendations on modifications you might want to consider making to these or any other exercises. If he/she is a doctor of physical therapy, you wont need a physicians referal, otherwise go to your PCP and obtain a referal. If you can’t get your MD to give you a referal, find a doctor that will.

Beyond that, for the time being, I would avoid exercises (including yoga poses) that require a lot of foward bending or twisting of the spine (none of the five general movements in Marks e-book do this.) I would probably also stick to body weight exercises and start easy–you can always work up if the exercises turn out ot be too easy.

Oh yeah, and do a lot of walking, preferably on a more compliant surface (grass, sand, etc) and avoid hills for the time being.

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